Frame analysis of the politics of identity and conflict at territorial frontiers: the case of Jarso-Girhi in Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper examines the public framing of the politics of identity and conflict in Chinaksen and Tulli-Guled districts where the Jarso and the Girhi have lived together as sedentary farmers. These are the districts wherein the two groups now experience socio-political and resource-based conflicts with identity underpinnings. The paper is based on qualitative data generated through intensive one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions. For analytical leverage, the paper draws on various mutually reinforcing sociological and social-psychological theories. The paper attempts to address the place of social framing in the conflict environment and the implication of frame-based positional and cognitive orientations on intergroup relations and interactions. The central argument of the paper is that in a context where identity groups are embroiled in competitive discourses, conflict framing serves as a vehicle through which members communicate their constrained and contested perceptions and understandings. Based on the analysis, the paper addressed the implication that the effectiveness of conflict management and resolution efforts and the efforts to reconstruct social integration in this context rests in a grassroots embrace and promotion of the values of transformative justice and interrelationships.

Keywords:

• Framing
• politics of identity
• ethnic frontier
• Oromo
• Somali

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the anonymous reviewers of African Identities at Taylor and Francis for their critical comments that helped him improve the quality of the presentation and the robustness of the argument in the paper.